Long-Fermented Kosher Dill Pickles

This is the pickle, the real thing. Two or three weeks may seem like a long time to tend to a crock of pickles, but the actual work involved is minimal, and the results are extraordinary. The mild, mellow tang from the lactic acid produced by fermentation is nothing like the sharp bite of vinegared pickles—it’s a subtler and more complex flavor.

Choose perfectly fresh, firm, blemish-free pickling cucumbers—the small, nubby Kirby-type ones, not the kind you’d put in a salad. Cut open